Frances Spalding
Encyclopedia
Frances Spalding CBE
, FRSL (born 1950) is a British art historian and writer.
She studied at Nottingham University and gained her PhD for a study of Roger Fry
. She taught art history at Sheffield City Polytechnic
before becoming a freelance writer and curator. She returned to academic work to take up the post of Professor of Art History at Newcastle University.
She specializes in 20th century British art, biography and cultural history and her work includes 15 major books, essays, criticism and reviews. She curated the 2003 exhibition John Piper in the 1930s: Abstraction on the Beach at Dulwich Picture Gallery
in south London
.
She has also written a study of poet Stevie Smith
.
She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
in 1984 She was awarded a CBE
in the Birthday Honours 2005 for services to literature.
She is a trustee of the Charleston Trust
.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, FRSL (born 1950) is a British art historian and writer.
She studied at Nottingham University and gained her PhD for a study of Roger Fry
Roger Fry
Roger Eliot Fry was an English artist and art critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developments in French painting, to which he gave the name Post-Impressionism...
. She taught art history at Sheffield City Polytechnic
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University is a higher education institution in South Yorkshire, England, based on two sites in Sheffield. City Campus is located in the city centre, close to Sheffield railway station, and Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away, adjacent to Ecclesall Road in...
before becoming a freelance writer and curator. She returned to academic work to take up the post of Professor of Art History at Newcastle University.
She specializes in 20th century British art, biography and cultural history and her work includes 15 major books, essays, criticism and reviews. She curated the 2003 exhibition John Piper in the 1930s: Abstraction on the Beach at Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London. England's first purpose-built public art gallery, it was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane and opened to the public in 1817. Soane arranged the exhibition spaces as a series of interlinked rooms illuminated naturally...
in south London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
She has also written a study of poet Stevie Smith
Stevie Smith
Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith was an English poet and novelist.-Life:Stevie Smith, born Florence Margaret Smith in Kingston upon Hull, was the second daughter of Ethel and Charles Smith. Contemporary Women Poets...
.
She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
in 1984 She was awarded a CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in the Birthday Honours 2005 for services to literature.
She is a trustee of the Charleston Trust
Charleston Farmhouse
Charleston, the country home of the Bloomsbury group is an example of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant's decorative style within a domestic context and represents the fruition of over sixty years of artistic creativity...
.
Notable publications
- Magnificent Dreams: Burne-Jones and the Late Victorians (1978)
- Whistler (1979)
- Roger Fry: Art and Life (1980)
- Vanessa Bell (1983)
- British Art since 1900 (1986)
- Stevie Smith: A Critical Biography (1988)
- 20th Century Painters and Sculptors: Dictionary of British Art (1990)
- Dance Till the Stars Come Down: A Biography of John Minton (1991)
- Viginia Woolf: Paper Darts: the Illustrated Letters (ed) (1991)
- Duncan Grant: A Biography (1997)
- The Tate: A History (1998)
- Ravilious in Public: A Guide to Works by the Artist in Public Collections (2002)
- John Piper in the 1930s: Abstraction on the Beach (2003)
- Gwen Raverat: Friends, Family and Affections (2004)
- The Bloomsbury Group, National Portrait Gallery Insights (2005)
- John Piper, Myfanwy Piper: Lives in Art, Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
(2009, ISBN 978-0-19-956761-4)